The Monuments Men

Charles Geddes Clarkson "Paul" Hyslop
( 1901-1988 )

Architect Charles Geddes Clarkson Hyslop was born in Hendon, near London, England, on December 29, 1901. Nicknamed Paul by his friends, Hyslop began his formal studies at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, where he trained under noted British architects Howard Robertson and Robert Atkinson. He later gained firsthand experience working with another great, Philip Tilden, who designed the country homes of two British Prime Ministers, Sir Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George. In 1924 Hyslop was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. During the 1930s, Hyslop received commissions for the design and restoration of many Neoclassical estates, including Buscot Park in Oxfordshire.

Hyslop served with the Royal Engineers in North Africa before transferring to the British MFAA in August 1944. As an MFAA Antiquities Officer in Libya, he utilized his fluency in Italian and Arabic conducting inspections of Roman ruins and historical monuments near Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, including Apollonia, Barca, Tolmeita, Tocra, and Benghazi. In May 1945 he created a guidebook on Ancient Cyrenaica and Cyrene which was distributed to Allied troops.

Considered “the last of the gentleman’s architects,” Hyslop became a trusted authority on English country mansions following his return to England in late 1945. Some of the United Kingdom’s most notable families recruited him to restore their vast estates. Careful to maintain the historical integrity of these homes, Hyslop acquired building materials and furnishings typical of the estates’ original construction. At Dalmeny House, a Gothic revival mansion in Edinburgh, Scotland belonging to the Earl of Rosebery, he imported 18th-century fireplaces and antique bookcases. Hyslop also helped convert Greenlands, the grand estate at Henley-on-Thames built on land once owned by Thomas Chaucer (son of Geoffrey, author of The Canterbury Tales) into a postwar Administrative Staff College (today, part of Henley Business School). His commission was soon expanded to include the creation of dormitories and the conversion of the old stable block into a library. Other commissions include Garden Hostel at King’s College, Cambridge, and All Saints Church in Orpington on behalf of the War Damage Committee.